Was Obama a Muslim?

Edward Luttwak, on the way to a larger point that I've seen ad nauseum elsewhere, provides the most concise statement I've yet read on the questions about Barack Obama's Muslim heritage: As the son of the Muslim father, Senator Obama was born a Muslim under Muslim law as it is universally understood. It makes no difference that, as Senator Obama has ...

If Wright Were White

Leonce Gaiter believes that ,"If Reverend Jeremiah Wright and his former disciple, Barack Obama were white, this would not be a story." He contends that, "White pastors have been spewing hateful bile and filth for generations. But it's white bile, and that makes all the difference." Ezra Klein disagrees slightly, arguing, "Americans recoil from the Chomskyite critique, and any ...

Pope Benedict Our German Shepherd

Henry Farrell recounts getting stuck in pope-security-related traffic, contrasts the differences between this trip and John Paul II's 1979 visit to Ireland, and takes this photo: Henry muses that it "seemed to me to have dark undertones that were presumably not intended by the person who was waving it about." Personally, I find the canine overtones amusing enough.

Bush Lauds Pope at White House Visit

The pontiff formerly known as Joseph Ratzinger visited the White House this morning and President Bush laid it on thick. An enthralled South Lawn crowd of more than 9,000 sang "Happy Birthday" to Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday — twice — and President Bush said that the first papal White House visit in 29 years was a reminder for Americans ...

On Bitterness, Cynicism and Frustration

So I'm just now getting around to following "bittergate"--the blogospheric furor that has erupted from Barack Obama's sociological observation that people vote on cultural issues because they don't trust the government on economic issues. (My colleague James has covered this matter here and here.) For further reference, here is the particular portion of the speech at issue, which ...

Obama on Guns, God, and Hate in Rural America

Barack Obama's foray into pop psychology, trying to explain why rural Pennsylvanians aren't warming to him and are asking him to talk more about patriotism, is causing quite the stir in the blogosphere. "You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now ...

Professor Ordered to Take Down Cartoons

A tenured, conservative professor has been ordered to take cartoons off his door because they offended someone. Getting one’s own office can be a rite of passage right up there with defending a dissertation or receiving tenure — and many professors’ lairs are reflections of their own attitudes and beliefs. Usually, it takes just a quick glance at the door, ...

Brownback and Lieberman Introduce ‘Ten Commandments Weekend’ Resolution

I have learned through Diana Hsieh that my Senator, Sam Brownback, apparently has nothing better to do with his time than get together with his buddy Joe Lieberman to introduce a Senate Resolution recognizing "Ten Commandments Weekend". The resolution states, after several out-of-context quotes, erroneous interpretations, and unfounded historical analysis, that:Whereas the first weekends of May in 2006 and ...

Saudi Woman Killed for Chatting on Facebook

"A young Saudi Arabian woman was murdered by her father for chatting on the social network site Facebook." The Guardian's Damien McElroy: The unnamed woman from Riyadh was beaten and shot after she was discovered in the middle of an online conversation with a man, the al-Arabiya website reported. The case was reported on a Saudi Arabian news site as ...

Wilders Film ‘Fitna’ Incites Muslims

Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders has debuted a new film that compares Islam to fascism. No rioting has yet ensued. Iran and Indonesia on Friday condemned a film by a Dutch lawmaker that accuses the Koran of inciting violence, while Dutch Muslim leaders urged restraint. Islam critic Geert Wilders launched his movie on Thursday evening. Titled "Fitna", an Arabic term sometimes translated ...

Wright, Hagee, and the KKK?

It will come of little surprise that Christopher Hitchens uses the Obama-Wright controversy to take another whack at organized religion. Look at the accepted choice of words for the ravings of Jeremiah Wright: controversial, incendiary, inflammatory. These are adjectives that might have been—and were—applied to many eloquent speakers of the early civil rights movement. . . . But is ...

Google Snubs Easter

Kathryn Jean Lopez is miffed that Google doesn't have a special alternate logo for Easter like they do for Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, and other events. She'd even settle for a bunny or a colored egg. Any acknowledgment at all. Easter is the holiest day of the year for Christians, who believe Christ rose from the dead ...

A Retraction

On two separate occasions in the past month, I condemned John McCain for being honored to receive endorsements from Rev. John Hagee and Rev. Rod Parsley. This condemnation was on the basis of statements I read in articles about them, statements I freely admit I do not know the full context of. Additionally, I don't know if those ...

Usury Laws, the Christian Right, and Bad Statistics

A study (or, rather, a report on said study) by two law professors on the relationship between the availability of high-interest payday loans and representation by Christian conservative legislators is generating some blogospheric commentary. The study's abstract: The culture war has become a national moniker describing a variety of policy debates between social conservatives and secular liberal Americans. Hotly ...

Obama Personality Cult Redux

Sara Robinson has an interesting examination of the question of Barack Obama’s cult of personality. She begins by a look at the literature on actual cults and shows why the Obama campaign doesn't qualify. While worthwhile from a technical standpoint, though, that's not really what the debate is about. Perhaps "cult" is a poor word choice but people ...